Battles of the future
by Scarlett Rose Petal
Summary: All the villains Ben Gwen and Kevin have fought are working together to take over the universe. The only thing in their way is five kids who must go to the past and seek help from the heroes protecting what the villains want- Gwen and Kevin's daughter.
1. Chapter 1

"And this is why an annodyte's power is considered nearly limitless." My history teacher Mrs. Reitz finished her afternoon lecture. All around me, annodytes were either listening intently or attempting to do yesterday's assignment- learning how to grow a plant just by touching it. I'd pretty much given up on it after the first few plants died. If Mom were here, she'd have made me practice until I got it right. But she and Dad were away on another plumber's mission along with Uncle Ben, which meant my brother, sister and I were stuck with our Aunt Julie babysitting us. She was only human and since the rest of us-me, my siblings and her kids, - had alien super powers, that wasn't gonna be a problem.

"-and this will all be on tomorrow's test. And I do hope that you have all been paying attention, because God knows _some of you_ can't afford another F," she said the last part directly to me. I might have inherited my mother's powers, but I had Dad's inability to study, plus a lot of other stuff I'd inherited from him. In fact, whenever someone met me, the first thing that would pop into their minds was: "She's Kevin Levin's daughter." As if though the fact that I had pale skin, black eyes and hair, always wore jeans and a clingy T-shirts and couldn't stand preppy clothes and skirts, swore out loud on a daily basis, didn't study for anything except combat classes, and could drive a space ship at the age of five was a tell-tale sign of that. OK, so maybe it was, but still. People didn't need to be so damn obvious about it!

Thank God for the bell. My next class was advanced combat with osmosians. I smiled. At least in this class I'd get to kick Devon's butt, even if he was getting better at using his powers. Mom and Dad kinda thought he was human, and only found out about his powers when he was eleven and I was ten. Yeah, yeah, I know. A brother and sister- the girl's an annodyte, the guy's an osmosian. Go figure. He, unlike me, is a total nerd with straight As in everything that doesn't have to do with fighting. He got the brains, I got the combat skills. Seems fair to me. Or at least it did until a couple of weeks ago when we found out he had Dad's supernatural strength. Hell, the guy can put a hole in a concrete wall without breaking a sweat or absorbing anything! Oh, well. I'm still better than him in fights.

I entered the classroom with a smile on my face. But when I got there, it was dark and empty. My instincts told me to run, but my overall enthusiasm about danger kept me rooted to the spot. The teachers gave me something extra hard in combat classes from time to time. I was way ahead, compared to the other students, and this was their way of keeping things fair. Of course, they could've just graduated me already, but that would be cheating. Or, at least, that's what Mom says.

Suddenly, a light flickered on a couple of feet away and I saw the figure of my 16-year-old second cousin Max. He had short untidy black hair, green eyes, a long, lean body, and an Omnitrix on his left wrist. He was gazing at me with a strange look in his eye. Not the usual look that said: _I'm gonna kick you're ass and then make fun of you, _but a look that said he wasn't playing. He was gonna take me down and when he did, I'd stay down. But I don't back down from a challenge. That's something that Dad's been drilling into me ever since I was born: Don't back down until you actually are down.

"Hello, cousin," he said in a dangerous voice, "You ready for today's lesson?"

"Sure, Maxie," I answered, smirking at him and gathering manna in my hands, "Ready when you are."

He reached for the dial on the Omnitrix, but before turning it he looked up and said, "You can still back out, Jane," that evil smile never leaving his mouth.

"You wish," I said, smiling a dangerous smile of my own.

He turned his eyes away from me for just a split second, but that second was all I needed. Manna stretched from my fingertips, enclosing around his wrist, and with all the force I could manage- Damn Devon was lucky to have Dad's powers! - I hurled him against the far wall, face first. When he slammed against it, I pulled back and dragged him to the floor, my manna still around his wrist. He howled in pain and I made the biggest mistake of my life- I let him go.

"Had enough?" I asked, stepping towards him, a scowl on my face.

"Hell, no," I heard him breathe against the mat. He rolled over onto his back and pulled me down on top of him, his hands ensnaring my wrists. I kicked him in the nuts and he let me go. I rolled off of him and landed in a crouch. That was all the time he needed to press the dial and turn into-

"Humongousaur!" he yelled out.

He had kept all the names for the aliens that his father had given them about thirty years ago. What a dweeb. However, I didn't exactly have time to think of new things to tease him about. Then again, that was the most effective way to keep someone's mind off a fight…

"Still haven't thought of your own pet names for those things? Or are you too afraid of what Daddy's gonna think when he finds out you've actually taken charge for once in your life?" I teased, as he threw a punch at me. I quickly put a shield up so that he couldn't hurt me.

"You're one to talk!" He yelled, as I dodged another blow, this time by dropping down on my stomach.

"You're too afraid to tell your parents when your baby sister has a power attack! How are you ever gonna take charge in your life?"

I'd jumped right back up as soon as his fist had disappeared from my line of sight and gathered more manna in my hands. As soon as he said those words, I felt more hurt than I would have if he'd put me out of commission for a week. They hurt because they were true. I froze and so did he, apparently realizing his mistake.

"Wait, Jane," he started, turning back to his normal human self. I knew now that the strange light in the middle of the room was supposed to make him look more terrifying, but in his dark green T-shirt that had a black stripe running down his shoulder to the hem of his shirt and a black 10 stitched over his heart, (which I normally considered pretty cool,) and his dark blue skinny jeans, he just looked pathetic.

"Forget it," I snapped at him. I turned around walked out of the gym.

I wouldn't have done this on a normal day. Despite the dreadful lectures about my powers, I actually liked school. It wasn't like life at home sucked or something. Not at all. When Dev and I got home, it was like we were in a Hallmark family card or something. Mom would be in the kitchen making dinner and Dad in his arm chair, our 5-year-old sister Caitlyn in his arms, reading her a book about something or other. Sometimes it was cars, sometimes it was fairy tales. It depended on her mood. That was something Catie had gotten from Mom- the ability to make anyone do whatever she wanted- especially Dad.

The reason I didn't want to go home was because of her. I loved her more than anything, and she really is the sweetest girl ever. She's like a mini version of Mom, except for the brown eyes, which are exactly like Dad's. Her hair isn't as perfectly styled as Mom's, though. It's messy and long, almost to the middle of her back. Mom usually makes a ponytail out of the top layer of her thick red hair, and lets the rest fall down her back.

Caitlyn is the third child in the family, and, since Dev's an osmosian and I'm an annodyte, she should be human, right? Nope. She's part human, part osmosian, and part annodyte. The power attacks Max mentioned are a little like asthma attacks. You never know when they'll come on. One moment she could be walking down the street, the next, her eyes glow pink, she starts screaming, throwing around energy beams, and if there's anything electronic around, trying to absorb it. Dev and I never let it get that far, though. We inject her with anesthetic or whatever it's called, and get her to the hospital.

I hate seeing my sister like that, but that's not the worst part. The worst part comes later when Mom and Dad find out about it. Mom talks to the doctor, asks if there's anything we can do, and, as usual, he tells us there isn't. Meanwhile, Dad's yelling at me for not taking care of my baby sister. He knows as well as I do that it's not my fault, but he doesn't care. Just as long as he has someone to yell at. And God forbid he yells at Devon! The straight-A student who never gets into trouble! Then, of course, Mom gets involved and tells him to "Leave Jane alone, Kevin. It wasn't her fault." Dad does what she says and his face hardens in that ice-cold mask that I hate more than Amy and Mike Darkstar- Charmcaster and Michael Darkstar's twins.

But I would rather have him yell at me than see that mask, even though whenever he starts yelling at me for something I have no control over seriously pisses me off. Most of the time I start yelling back before Mom can say anything, and end up grounded. But anything is better than that stone mask of anger, disappointment, and somehow indifference. The first time he wore that expression around me was when Vilgax almost killed Mom on a Plumber's mission. I was seven years old. The three of us were in the waiting room outside the hospital room where Mom was resting. That was the first and only time I've ever cried in front of anyone in my family. Only Dad was too busy pacing to even notice. It was Devon who comforted me and told me she would be okay. Sometime later I fell asleep, and was woken up by a plump, human nurse in her forties. She had dark red curls, pale skin, and freckles. Probably an alien disguised as what she thought a human would look like. The sight was…disturbing.

"Are you okay, sweetie?" she asked, shaking my shoulder gently.

"Yeah, fine," I answered, "Where's my dad? And my brother?"

"They went home, honey. Your Mom's awake," she smiled a soft, comforting smile. My eyes widened and I got up, practically running into the room. It was big, with a large window overlooking the city. In the corner there was a TV. Everything was white. If it weren't for her red hair, I wouldn't even have noticed Mom there.

She was lying on a gurney, reading. There was a small smile on her face. It was hard to believe she had just been in an accident, she looked so peaceful.

"Jane!" she exclaimed, setting the book down as I ran into her arms.

"Mom! I'm so glad you're okay!" I told her, sobbing into her shoulder.

"Me too, sweetie," she told me gently, hugging me and stroking my back, "Your dad said you were worried."

I pulled back and looked at the floor, smirking at the floor. "I'm surprised he noticed."

"Honey, your dad loves you. He was just-"

"Worried about you," I finished for her. She nodded, sighing. Then I found I didn't even care about Dad. Mom was okay. That was all that mattered.

"Whatever," I said, shrugging, "I'm glad you're okay."

She smiled and then reached into the collar of her hospital gown and pulled out a golden locket. She took it off and held out her hand for mine. I placed my tiny hand in her somewhat large one and she put the locket in my palm, curling my hand around it.

"What's this?" I asked, opening my hand and trying to open the locket.

"Your dad gave it to me when we were teenagers. Something happened and he said he wanted me to have something to remember him. The way he used to be," she answered, smiling at me.

"Why are you giving it to me?" I asked.

"Because I want you to know that no matter what, we'll always be with you, and we'll always love you," she told me, leaning forward and kissing me on the forehead.

Suddenly, the window above me shattered, bringing me out of my memories, and inside tumbled Dad, some sort of robot on top of him. I froze. Wasn't he supposed to be on the other side of the galaxy?

When the robot exploded, he looked up at me. Uh oh.

"Look, Dad-" I started, putting my hands up in surrender, bracing myself for the lecture on the importance of staying in school or some other crap. It didn't come. Instead, he grabbed my wrist and pulled me down below the windowsill. He was dressed in dark blue jeans and a light blue button-down shirt over a white T-shirt.

"Jane," he said breathlessly, "I don't have time to explain. You have to get home. Take care of Caitlyn. Devon's already there. Max and Vera are too. They know what's going on. You have to go back twenty three years ago and find me, Gwen, and Ben."

"But, Dad-" I started again.

"Please, Janie!" he begged. I froze again. He had used to call me that when I was little. Now he only used my nickname when he wanted- no, _needed_- me to do something important. I nodded and grabbed the locket I kept hidden inside my shirt collar, just like Mom had. I summoned up all my strength and magic and teleported back to the safety of my living room, nearly collapsing. Luckily, a pair of strong arms caught me before I hit the floor.

"Jane?" I heard my brother's voice above me. His red hair hung in his emerald green eyes as I stared up at him. He was wearing a dark blue denim jacket, jeans, and a pale blue T-shirt. For him it was a definite step up from the preppy sweater vests he usually wore.

"Are you okay?" he asked as I stood up. I immediately saw my fourteen-year-old second cousin Verdona pacing the length of the living room. She had shoulder length, brown hair, and was wearing a white blouse with large black buttons, a white and black checkered skirt, black tights and shoes, and a grey knitted, cotton jacket tied around her waist. Max leaned on the arm of our dark blue couch, his arms crossed, a frown on his face. In the middle of the couch sat Catie, cross-legged, a pale gold cashmere sweater and blue jeans on. Her elbows rested on her knees as she supported her chin on her fists, trying to figure out what was going on. That made two of us.

"What's going on?" I asked.

"Mom and Vera came to get me right before practice," Devon explained, as I went over to the couch and sat down beside Catie, "Mom said that Bellwood was under attack by Vilgax and Darkstar, and, well, almost anyone else they've ever fought. Apparently they're working on some plan to take over the Universe again."

"So, what's the problem? They kick their butts, put them in the Null Void, and everyone's happy," I said, not understanding what the big problem was.

"Didn't you hear anything?" Vera snapped at me suddenly, "ALL the evil enemies of our parents are working together!"

"And if they were dumb enough to come to Bellwood of all places, that means they have a plan," Devon added, his exterior calm as always.

"And what is this great plan?" I asked sarcastically. In my experience, bad guys were nothing but aliens with too much muscle and not enough brains.

Devon sighed in exasperation and took my wrist, dragging me out of our living room to the kitchen.

The kitchen in our house doesn't look like a normal kitchen in a human house. It's more fit to be in a restaurant. In fact, that's exactly what it looks like- a kitchen from a five star restaurant. Some of the other rooms in our house are like that, too. For example, Devon's room looks like a library. No, it _is _a library. There are, like, thirty bookshelves in that room. I don't even know where he sleeps!

Then there were rooms like the living room that looked like they belonged in a normal house There's a door off to the side on one wall that led into a short hallway that led to the front door and the stairs to the second, third and fourth floor. The walls of the living room are white, the floor's carpeted, there are three windows that show the front yard, the wall opposite has two doorways. One leads to the kitchen, the other to the dining room. The fourth wall is lined with bookshelves. Only in the middle of the wall is a large fireplace. On top of it there's a painting of some meadow that Dad took Mom to for her eighteenth birthday. On the opposite wall there's a flat-screen TV and some family pictures. In the middle of the room there's the dark blue couch, facing away from the windows, a green arm chair, facing away from the two doorways. In the middle there's a coffee table, and in front of the TV there's a dark green ottoman.

Back in the kitchen, I sat down on the kitchen counter. I don't know how Mom can prepare dinner for two hours standing up. Why don't they put chairs here?

"So, what is the evil villains' master plan?" I asked, giving him a teasing smile.

He sighed and leaned back against the silver table in the middle of the room.

"They need a massive living power source. Mom, Dad, and Uncle Ben came back to warn us. They've probably been captured by now. Almost the entire town has. Did Dad tell you to do anything after you got here?" he asked, trying to change the subject.

"Yeah, he told me to go back in time and find them and ask them for help," I answered, "What do you mean, a _living _power source?" I frowned, crossing my arms.

Devon sighed, turning his gaze to look at the floor.

"I mean, they need a living being powerful enough to do whatever it is they plan on using, making or doing," he explained.

"And we're supposed to stop them?" I asked, wanting to make sure I had every detail on this right.

"Yes, and keep the power source safe," he said, nodding.

"Who's the power source?" I asked, frowning at him. He was still looking at the floor.

"Does it matter?" he asked, lifting his jade eyes to finally look at me. They were begging me not to ask. But I never was that good a listener.

"Well, if we're gonna be protecting someone, we might as well all know who it is," I said stubbornly, hopping down from the counter and walking forward so that my face was soon only a few inches from his. I glared at him. Devon sighed and looked at me. This time he was the one who looked defiant.

"Think about it," he told me, "Who do we know that has more power than she can bear?"

I stepped back. No, it couldn't be. She was so fragile, so protected. Only people in the family knew about her powers. But it made sense. She was the most prized thing in the family. Next year she should be starting school, but instead our great grandmother would be home-schooling her. The villains must have found out about her somehow, but how?

"Catie…" I whispered.

"Exactly," Devon confirmed, "They're after our baby sister."

I looked up and let his concerned eyes meet my horrified ones.

"Jane-" he started. I stepped back again and snapped my fingers. Immediately I was engulfed by a pink force field. I was doing what Dad told me to- going back in time and protecting my baby sister.


	2. Chapter 2

Gwen POV:

"Kevin, do we really have to do this?" I asked, staring straight ahead at the road in front of us. We were driving with Ben down the road leading to La Soledad to another one of Kevin's deals. I had no idea what this one was for, and nor did I care. I knew that most of the time Kevin just bought useless junk that he thought would be useful eventually. Granted, he was right most of the time, but still.

"Yes, Gwen, of course we do," he answered, "Unless you can find a better way to spend a Friday night…" He turned to smile at me devilishly. I glared at him and rolled my eyes.

"Ew, dude!" Ben exclaimed from the back seat, "She's my cousin!"

"And she's also my girlfriend," Kevin shot back, smirking at him in the rearview mirror, "So shut it, Tennyson."

Ben glared at him. Kevin smirked and rolled his eyes at me. I shook my head.

Suddenly, in the middle of the road, an energy portal opened up, and out of it stepped a girl about my age with long black hair, a white T-shirt, dark blue jeans, and a black hoodie tied around her waist. She stood there with a hand held up in front of her, signaling Kevin to stop.

"Dude, watch out!" Ben exclaimed, leaning forward and pointing at the strange girl. Kevin froze, afraid he would hit her. He didn't even try to hit the brakes, he was so surprised. I leaned across him, grabbed the steering wheel and turned it sharply to the right, driving the car off the road. Kevin quickly recovered and hit the brakes, letting go of the steering wheel with one arm and wrapping it around me so I wasn't crushing it. I now found myself in a compromising position lying across his lap like that. He didn't seem to notice, though. He just stared ahead completely shocked.

"Whoa," said Ben. He was clutching the head rest of Kevin's seat, which he had hit when I had turned the wheel.

The strange girl ran up to us and tapped on Kevin's window. He turned to her and rolled it down.

"What the hell?" he snapped, glaring at her and still not letting go of me. I had to admit I kind of liked it.

She smirked when she saw me on his lap. He finally noticed and his eyes widened as he let go of me. I sat up and we all got out of the car.

"Who are you?" asked Ben, pointing an accusing finger at her, "How did you get here?"

"My name's Jane," she answered, slapping Ben's hand away, "I got here through the energy portal, duh."

"I think he means where did the energy portal come from?" I said, rephrasing his question. The girl was taller than me, and seemed very surprised by this.

"I made it so I could get here," Jane explained, shrugging.

"You made it?" I repeated, frowning, "You mean you're an annodyte?"

"Half annodyte," she corrected me, "Mom's half human half annodyte, Dad's part osmoian."

"Shouldn't that make you part osmosian, too?" asked Ben, frowning at her.

"No," she answered, shaking her head vigorously, "My brother Devon's half human half osmosian."

"So, it's two in the afternoon, and you decide you wanna go to the middle of a road in the middle of nowhere," said Kevin sarcastically, not even noticing the similarity between us and her parents or the fact that her brother had the same name as his father. Wait- what? Before I could ask, though, he continued. "Yeah. That makes a lot of sense."

I elbowed him in the ribs.

"Ow!" he exclaimed, glaring at me. Jane smirked.

"Not exactly," she said, "I was trying to find you three."

"How come?" asked Kevin suspiciously.

"Isn't it obvious?" asked Ben. I recognized the signs of his ego-centric personality kicking in. The flamboyance, the all-too-modest tone, the look on his face that he gave obsessed fan girls. (Unless he was running from them. That was a look of pure terror.)

"She's here because she wanted to meet the great Ben Tennyson," he said, giving her a movie-star smile, "Give me your autograph book and I'll sign it so you can show your friends." He stretched out his hand.

"Can you hit him for me?" she said, turning to me.

"Gladly," I answered. Smiling a content smile, I hit my annoying jerk of a cousin on the back of the head. Kevin laughed.

"And the reason you couldn't do that yourself is…?" he smirked.

"My folks would kill me," she answered, smirking back.

"So, your parents are some of the few adults who don't think I'm a menace or a threat?" asked Ben rubbing the back of his head and glaring at me simultaneously. I rolled my eyes as if to say, _Come on. Like you would've done anything different._

"Huh?" she asked, obviously confused.

"They don't watch Will Harangue?" he tried again, this time turning all his attention to her. He had a surprised look on his face. _Everyone _in Bellwood watched Will Harangue.

"You mean the guy who works as a secretary at the Plumber's Academy on the moon?" she asked, still confused.

"A secretary?" said Ben, now looking just as confused as Jane.

"Plumber's Academy on the moon?" repeated Kevin.

"Yeah," she said, frowning at them, "Hang on a sec. What year is it?"

"2011," I answered.

"Oh, crap," she cursed, "That wasn't built until 2016."

"What?" exclaimed Kevin, staring at her in astonishment. We all were. How did this girl know what would happen five years from now?

"Well, yeah," she said, shrugging, "They had to figure out a way to teach Plumbers all over the Earth, and, well, satellites are so last-decade, so they transported the necessary-"

"He doesn't mean how they made a school on the moon," I interrupted.

"Weird as that is," Ben murmured. I shot him a glare.

"He meant how did you know about it?" I told her. Jane sighed again.

"I'm… kinda from the future. Twenty three years into the future," she explained, shoving her hands into her pockets in a good imitation of Kevin when he was nervous.

"No way," said Ben, incredulously. Jane glared at him.

"You have a watch that lets you turn into what? Five million different aliens? Your cousin can turn into an energy being if you get her mad enough, your best friend can absorb practically anything, and you don't believe it's possible that an annodyte traveled back in time?" she snapped.

Ben looked at her in surprise for a moment, caught off-guard. The surprise then turned to glowering.

"Prove it!" he told her, "Prove you're from the future." Jane sighed and I hit my head against the palm of my hand. In my opinion she had already proven she was from the future when she told us she about the school being built on the moon. But Ben would never be satisfied until she said something that he didn't have a clever response to. We could be here all day!

Jane, however, wasn't fazed. She turned to look at me and said the last thing any of us expected her to say.

"Has he given you the locket yet?" she asked.

"What?" Kevin repeated.

"Huh?" said Ben.

"Excuse me?" I asked, frowning at her.

"The locket," she repeated, "Has he given it to you yet?"

"Yes," I told her, frowning, "Why?"

"You're wearing it right now," she told me. I was definitely surprised, but I didn't see how this would help convince Ben she was from the future.

"Yes," I confirmed, even though it hadn't been a question. My eyes were on her. I heard Ben whisper to Kevin, "What locket?" "Later," he whispered back.

"You've never taken it off. And you've never told anyone else about it," she said gently, shrugging.

"So what?" snapped Ben, glaring at her, "That doesn't prove anything."

Jane smiled at him.

"Before I left, you told me to come here and ask you guys for help. You also said Ben wouldn't believe me when I said I was from the future, so you gave me this." She reached inside her collar and pulled out the locket!

"Look familiar?" she asked, smirking. I stepped forward and took my locket out of my collar.

"That's just a-" Ben started. He was cut off by Kevin knocking him out.

"Kevin!" I exclaimed, rushing towards my cousin to see if he had caused any serious trauma, "That was completely uncalled for!"

My obsidian-eyed boyfriend shrugged as he hauled Ben up off the ground and dumped him-literally- in the backseat. Jane laughed out loud.

"So, since you're from the future," he said to Jane, "What are you doing here?"

"I'm here 'cause I need your help," she answered, calming down.

"Our help with what?" asked Kevin, crossing his arms on his chest.

"Bellwood's been taken over by the bad guys. The whole town's taken captive," she answered, sighing in exasperation and leaning against the hood of Kevin's car.

Kevin and I exchanged a look.

"Why?" I asked, "To get the Ultimaterix? They wouldn't have to do that."

"They're villains," Kevin told me, "They do whatever they want."

"He's got a point," said Jane, "but that's not it. They're after something else."

"Well, what are they after?" I asked her.

She smiled at me sadly.

"When Ben asked me if I shouldn't be half-annodyte, half-osmosian, he was wrong. Everyone though it was impossible," she said and turned her obsidian eyes to the ground. I thought I saw a tear in the corner of her eye.

"They just had to have a third kid…" she muttered.

"What was that?" asked Kevin, frowning at her. I elbowed him in the ribs.

"You have another sibling whose part both aliens," I said. It wasn't a question, but a statement.

"Yeah," she said anyway, "My little sister Caitlyn."

"The aliens are after your sister?" asked Kevin incredulously. Jane glared at him.

"Do you have any idea how much power she has?" she snapped at him.

"No, but-"

"Do you have any idea how difficult it is for her to remain normal? Do you know what she goes through?" she continued snapping, all the while coming closer to him. By now she was only a centimeter away from him, her finger pointing accusingly at him.

Kevin's face, which had previously been shocked and surprised, was now a hardened mask.

"I've got a pretty good idea," he told her, shoving her hand away.

"How would you know? Have you ever been energy crazed?" she snapped.

"Yeah, as a matter of fact I have," he snapped back. Jane was shocked. She hadn't expected this.

"What?" she asked, taking a step back. Kevin opened his moth to explain, but I topped him.

"That's not important right now," I said gently, "We'll help you keep your sister safe and save the town."

Jane smiled at me gently.

"Thanks," she said and then turned to Kevin, "Sorry."

"Don't worry 'bout it," he answered, shrugging.

"So, do you guys have some sort of time machine?" she asked, crossing her arms on her chest.

"Time machine?" Kevin scoffed, "I'm pretty sure those haven't been invented yet."

"Of course not," she said, sighing, "You invented them."

"Seriously?" he exclaimed, "And I thought the future was gonna be stupid."

"Why?" she asked.

"A few days ago we ran into Ben 10,000," I told her.

"Really?" she said, crossing her arms on her chest and cocking an eyebrow.

"Yeah," Kevin said, "Why's that so unbelievable?"

"Nothing," she said, smiling, "I'm really sorry." She was laughing now. Kevin and I exchanged looks.

I finally shook my head and turned back to Jane.

"How can we get back to your time?" I asked her.

"I got here through an energy portal, but I can't do that again with all four of us. I'll pass out," she stated.

My eyes softened.

"I'll help you," I said, taking her hand, "It's easier to do hard spells like time travel with someone else."

"Great," said Kevin, opening the back door of his car and taking Ben out. He threw my cousin over his shoulder like he didn't weigh anything. Sometimes I was amazed by his strength. "While you two figure out how to take us back, I'll wake Benji up."

"Why don't we just take the car?" Jane asked, frowning at both of us.

"My car? No way," said Kevin, setting Ben down on the ground and shaking him.

Jane looked up at me, confused.

"Kevin cares about his car way too much," I explained, "I'm surprised you didn't know that."

She smiled.

"I did. I just figured the obsession started when he was older."

I smiled back.

"Get up, Tennyson!" Kevin snapped at Ben.

No response.

"Maybe we should go anyway. I'm sure Dev can figure out a way to wake him up once we get there," Jane told us.

"Good idea," I said. We cast the spell, and moments later were standing in front of a large mansion, at least three times as big as my house.

"Wow," I said, looking at the strange building.

"This is where you live?" asked Kevin, nearly dropping Ben.

"Yeah," said Jane, a wry smile on her face, "Home sweet home."

At that moment the door sprung open to reveal a red haired boy, about Kevin's age. He was holding a gun, and it was pointing at us!


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Thanks for the reviews, you guys! Love you!

Kevin POV:

"Alright, nobody move!" the kid snapped. The gun he was holding was a calimore ray gun, used mainly on the planet of Nicrogriffins, Big Chill's race. Very effective and almost impossible to get. Which raises the question, where the hell did he get it? At that moment Tennyson opened his eyes and groaned. I dropped him and put up my hands.

"Dude!" he exclaimed.

"Look up, Benji," I said, not taking my eyes off the guy. Ben, idiot that he is, glared at me before turning to look at what we were all staring at.

"Devon?" said Jane patiently, holding up her hands, "It's just me. I brought back some help from the past. Put down the gun."

He smiled a bitter smile. It was the kind of smile that Darkstar had whenever he said 'Lovely Gwen'. Suddenly I wanted to rip the kid's head off.

"If you were Jane, I'd be pinned to a tree by now," he hissed. Jane smirked.

"Don't tempt me," she said.

"If you're my sister, what did Dad teach you when you were five?" Devon asked, his eyes straying from all of us and just focusing on Jane. Big mistake.

"He taught me how to drive a spaceship," Jane answered promptly, "That's the one and only night Mom's ever made him sleep on the couch. By the way, lesson number one – never take your eyes off of any of your opponents."

Man, this girl was good. Devon smirked and turned back to the rest of us.

"What is the matter with you guys?" said Ben, getting up off the ground. He didn't bother putting up his arms. "He's not Kevin! He probably doesn't even know how to-"

An energy ray was immediately fired at his head. Ben quickly ducked out of the way so that it hit a tree behind him instead.

"-shoot," he finished, his green eyes wide with fear. Normally, I loved seeing that look on Benji's face, but only if I was the reason it was there in the first place. Well, either me or Gwen. It didn't really make a difference. And besides, although I'd never admit it to either of them, she's more frightening – and probably hotter, too – anyway.

The guy smirked.

"Who are you?" he asked us.

"Dev, this is Ben and Gwen Tennyson and Kevin Levin," Jane told him, "Guys, this is my annoying, nerdy, perfect-aim brother, Devon."

His green eyes (which, strangely enough reminded me of Gwen's. But then again, almost everything reminded me of Gwen), widened in surprise, too. He lowered the gun and stared at us.

"What?" Jane asked teasingly, "You didn't think I'd actually do it?"

"To be completely honest, no, I didn't," Devon told her, taking his eyes off us and focusing again on his sister, "Come on, everyone's worried sick. Especially Caity."

Jane's expression turned somber and she nodded.

"By the way, sorry about the whole almost shooting you thing-"

"Hey, don't worry about it," I told him, lifting my hand up and waving away his apologies as he and Jane led us to their house.

"Yeah, we get shot at by strangers every day," Ben told them, shrugging. Easy for him to say. He only had to worry about himself out there. Julie was at home playing tennis. He didn't have to worry about her.

Gwen must've seen the expression on my face, cuz she elbowed him in the ribs. I smirked.

"Ow! What?" he snapped at her.

Jane smirked, too.

"Don't be such a baby, Tennyson," she told him.

"Jane," Devon snapped at her.

I smirked even wider.

"Yeah, yeah," she said, waving away his comment. The smirk never left her face.

We stepped into the house and walked down a short hallway, stopping at another door. (How many doors does one house need?)

Devon carefully placed his hand on the doorknob. He hesitated.

"Duck," he told us. Gwen looked up at me with a strange look in her eyes. I shrugged back in response and looked at Ben. He shrugged too.

"Maybe it's some weird future greeting thing," he suggested. I glared at him.

"You're an idiot, Tennyson," I told him, stating the obvious. I saw Gwen roll here eyes. She kept quiet, though.

Devon opened the door and an energy ray was immediately fired at our heads. Where the heck did these people get the weapons!

"Shit, Max!" Jane exclaimed, seeing the hole burned in the wall behind us, "How much do you get in Weapon Training? 5.1?"

"Oh, it's just you guys," came the voice of an obnoxious-sounding 16-year-old.

We lifted our heads to see a kid with black hair and green eyes pointing another calimore at us. A girl about a year, give or take, younger than him was hiding behind the couch, her scared eyes peeking out from the back. A little girl with red hair was sitting on the couch, wrapped up in a tight ball.

"You gave him a gun?" Tennyson snapped at Devon.

"I can't believe I'm saying this," said Gwen suddenly, "but in retrospect, he's right."

Everyone stared at her. Not only had she just agreed with her cousin, she hadn't spoken since we got here. I put my hand on her forehead, checking to see if she had a fever. She slapped my hand away.

"Kevin, what are you doing?" she snapped, glaring at me.

"Checking to see if you're not sick," I told her. I had the feeling that everyone in the room was exchanging amused looks.

"I'm fine," she promised. I rolled my eyes and turned back to everyone in the room.

Jane was smirking again.

"Guys, this is my obnoxious cousin Max, his tone-deaf sister Vera, and the little girl on the couch is my sister Caity," Jane announced.

"I'm not tone-deaf!" Vera snapped at her, immediately shooting up from behind the couch and glaring at her cousin.

"Whatever floats your boat, V," Jane told her, going over to sit down next to little Caity.

Everyone watched as the two sisters embraced and Jane's tough façade immediately faded. I had the feeling she wasn't this calm very often.

My eyes suddenly landed on the gun hanging limply from Max's side. He noticed this and frowned at me.

"Where'd you get the calimore?" I asked, pointing my chin in the direction of the gun.

"The what?" he asked, a confused look that I saw way too often on Ben's face appearing on his.

"The weapon," Devon explained, and then turned to look at me, "I got it from my dad's inventory. He keeps all kinds of stuff down there."

"Ooh, you broke into Dad's inventory?" Jane asked, her eyes lighting up in excitement.

Devon sighed an exasperated sigh and rested his forehead in the palm of his hand.

"I have got to be the dumbest man alive," he muttered.

"Don't blame yourself, Dev," said Max, "It's not your fault your sister's a psychopath guilty of blackmailing everyone she's ever met."

Tennyson laughed.

"She sounds like Kevin!"

The room tensed. Gwen hit him on the back of the head again.

"Ow!" he exclaimed, glaring at her again.

"Honestly, Ben," she sighed, holding her head in the palm of her hand like Devon had just done.

"Janie?" a soft voice suddenly interrupted their 'discussion'.

"Yeah, sweetie?" Jane asked, looking down at the toddler in her lap.

"When are Mommy and Daddy gonna be back?" she asked, looking at her sister.

Jane looked up and exchanged panicked looks with her brother and two cousins. No one knew what to tell the little girl. I don't blame them. If a kid asked me that question, I wouldn't know what to tell them either.

But, as usual, Gwen came to the rescue. She walked over to Jane and sat down on the couch next to her.

"May I?" she asked, holding out her arms. Tennyson and I exchanged looks. What the hell was she doing?

Jane nodded and put the kid on Gwen's lap. She looked up at her with large brown eyes and Gwen smoothed back her flame red hair.

"Look, honey," she said carefully, "Your Mom and Dad are not gonna be at home for a while now. But don't worry, you'll see them again soon. I promise. Right now you just need to stay with us and listen to your siblings. They'll take care of you."

A small smile appeared on her little face and she wrapped her tiny arms around Gwen's neck.

"Okay," she said, "Who are you?"

"Yeah, that's something that we'd like to know, too," Vera added, stepping out from behind the armchair and frowning at her.

"I'm Ben Tennyson," Ben Tennyson announced, "And this is my cousin Gwen Tennyson-" he pointed at his cousin Gwen Tennyson, "-and our friend, Kevin Levin." He pointed at me, their friend, Kevin Levin.

The room was frozen again. Caity turned around to look at her sister with wide eyes and asked, "Jane, what did you do?"

At those five words the atmosphere in the room melted and Jane and Devon started laughing.

"Just like Mom," Devon finally managed to get out.

"Yeah," Jane agreed, "And Dad, too."

"Okay…" said Max, apparently growing uncomfortable at this, "So, what do we do now?"

"Well, first things first," said Ben, coming further into the room and settling down on the armchair, "We need to know where the villains are hiding so we can take them down."

"Take them down?" Gwen repeated, frowning at Ben, "Ben, we have a child with us. A child that the villains want. We can't put her in danger."

"Gwen," I sighed and went over to sit next to her and put my arm on her shoulder, "There's always a child with us that the villains want." I reminded her. She rolled her eyes.

"You know what I mean, Kevin," she told me. I smiled slightly. Yeah, I did know. She couldn't stand to let anyone get hurt, let alone an innocent five-year-old, just the same as I couldn't stand to see her get hurt. Those were the worst moments of my entire life. I liked that she could take care of herself, but sometimes I wished that she'd just let me take care of her for a change.

"Kevin?" her voice snapped me back to reality.

"Yeah?" I asked, shaking my head and clearing it. She sighed. I had the suspicion that she'd been trying to get my attention for a couple of seconds now.

"What do you think we should do? Try to find the villains or stay here and keep Caity safe?" she asked.

"We need to find those bad guys and kick their butts! And I don't care what her dad told her to do!" Max exclaimed, crossing his arms on his chest stubbornly.

"How 'bout when we find him you say that to his face, huh?" Jane suggested, glaring at him.

"Jane!" Devon snapped, "We have a situation here, and no time for you to get into a fight with our cousin!"

The girl sighed and cursed under her breath. She settled back against the couch, her arms crossed on her chest, head turned to glare at a painting of a meadow above a fireplace on the wall.

"Anyway…" said Gwen, turning back to look at me, her emerald green eyes encouraging. I knew what she wanted me to say, and, as always, her wish is my command.

"We should keep her safe," I said, not looking at anyone else other than her, "If it's what the older us thought we should do, then, well, I guess we should." Gwen smiled at me.

"There is something else we could do," Ben said, looking up from the table he had been concentrating on for the past few seconds. It was probably the eighth wonder of the world – Ben Tennyson's attention span was longer than that of a goldfish!

"But we're gonna need help if we're gonna take down all of the bad guys," he said. I recognized his battle-face. It was the one he wore when he wasn't totally oblivious, when he actually cared what was going on and didn't just beat the crap out of whoever was causing trouble in the world today. "Is there someone who can help us?"

"Yeah, we know a couple of guys," Jane told him, frowning.

"Great," he said, throwing her a brief smile, "You'll take us to them tomorrow."

"But what about Caity?" Gwen asked, bouncing the little girl on her lap.

Ben smiled at her and then turned back to Jane.

"Didn't you say something about a Plumber's Academy on the moon?"

A/N: Okay, sorry I haven't updated in forever, but I just don't have that much inspiration for this story. Don't worry, though. I think my writer's block is gone. =) I'll try to update sooner this time. REVIEW!


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: Hey, guys! I am so, so, so sorry that I haven't updated this story in months! But, don't worry, I haven't forgotten about it, and do intend to finish it. It could take a while, though, and this time, I'm not promising a quick update. Maybe quicker, but still. Until then, here's a long chapter to hold you over. Anyway, enjoy!

Jane POV:

"No, Ben," Mom immediately snapped at him, "We're not leaving a five year old girl all alone at a Plumbers' academy. Her parents would freak."

"Your parents never freak out about anything," Uncle Ben pointed out. He was reminding me more and more of Max by the minute. Apparently, he didn't know anything about his own cousin, or her boyfriend, though. Not unlike Max. Mom was totally right. If the future her and Dad found out we'd left Caity on the moon, they'd ground Devon for a month, and me for the rest of eternity. Not that it would be fair, but hey. He's the good one, and I'm bound to screw up again eventually. Better safe than sorry, as Dad always says. I don't know why they bother, though. I'm gonna sneak out anyway, so what's the point?

"Oh, they don't?" Mom asked incredulously, bringing me back to reality, crossing her arms on her chest and arching an eyebrow.

"Yeah, they don't," Dad agreed, shrugging.

Mom gave him The Look. It's the one that makes water freeze in the middle of July, the one that always makes everyone who's arguing with her back down. But apparently, that doesn't work yet, because, well, nothing.

"Hey, I'm just saying," said Dad, putting his hands up in surrender, "Remember when they found out you were an annodyte? The most that they did was tell you, 'When you're off fighting aliens, call if you're gonna miss dinner.'"

"You have a point," she admitted, "But still, we're not taking her to the moon."

"I'm gonna have to leave?" Caity asked, her eyes flooding with tears, "But I don't want to go."

"It's alright, sweetie," Mom told her, hugging her tightly to her chest. I looked up to see the look in Dad's eyes. I couldn't help but smirk. It was that same love-filled expression that he had whenever they came back from a Plumber's mission. Of course, that was usually followed by kisses and a bunch of stuff that keeps me up literally all night. Seriously, it's a wonder they only have three kids. In fact I've taken to spending the nights at Max's house, just because they're so loud. I shuddered and brought myself back to the present.

"Actually, I don't think we'll even get to one of your Dad's spaceships," Vera piped up, "Let alone the moon."

"What do you mean?" Devon asked her.

"Well," said Vera, starting to pace the length of the room, "Doesn't your dad keep his-?"

Suddenly there was a knock on the door. We all froze. Caity's eyes widened, terror replacing the sadness. I exchanged a look with Devon. He nodded and clutched his gun in his arms. We both made our way to the hallway door.

"Hang on a sec," said Max, "We'll go, too." He pointed at himself and Vera. Uncle Ben nodded.

"That might be a good idea. You have an Omnitrix, after all," he said. Max smiled as he and Vera made their way towards us.

"But then she has to stay here," Uncle Ben finished, pointing at his future daughter, "Sorry, but you're only human."

Vera smirked.

"No, I'm not," she stated, crossing her arms on her chest in a good imitation of her father at his cockiest.

"Oh, really?" Uncle Ben asked, narrowing his eyes at her, "Then what kind of alien are you?"

"We have no idea why, but she's part… what was Echo Echo's race again?" Max asked, scratching the back of his neck and turning to Devon.

"Does it matter?" he snapped back.

"Alright, alright!" Max cried, holding his hands up in surrender, "Jeez, I was just asking!"

"Well, ask later," I snapped at him, "Point is, she can help," I said, turning back to Uncle Ben, "Now, you guys stay here with Caity, just in case."

"No chance in hell," Dad huffed, absorbing the wall, "We're going too."

"Well, someone has to stay here with her!" Devon snapped, glaring at him.

"Last time I checked, we were Plumbers, not babysitters," he snapped back. Devon opened his mouth to argue, but I could see the doubt in his emerald-green eyes. He had never liked talking back to either of our parents, which was why it was good that they hardly ever had the same opinion on anything. That way he only had to say something before one of them agreed and the other one disagreed. Then it all depended on what the fight was about, and who was on his side.

"I don't mean to disrupt anything," said Mom in an icy, skeptical tone, "but how do we know who's even out there?"

"You know, she has a point," said Uncle Ben, scratching the back of his neck, "It could be some other Plumber who wants to help."

"Does it matter?" Max cried out in frustration, "Either way, somebody has to get the door!"

"Another good point," Uncle Ben agreed.

"You are an idiot," I stated, glaring at him, and opened the door. This was what Dad had told me to go back in time for?

I started walking down the short hallway as quietly as I possibly could, and soon heard Devon's footsteps join mine.

"Decided to get in on the fun?" I snickered, rolling my eyes.

"I thought you were taking this seriously," he breathed. It was then that I noticed he wasn't carrying his gun. Well, someone sure is trustworthy.

"Not that serious," I whispered back, an evil smile spreading across my face, deciding to ignore the absence of the weapon. Hey, these creeps might have been after one of the most important people in my life, but that didn't mean I couldn't have fun bringing them down, did it?

We finally got to the door and just as I was about to open it, Devon grabbed my wrist.

"What?" I hissed, turning to glare at him. He put his finger to his lips and put his own hand on the doorknob and slowly turned it. As soon as it was open, we found ourselves staring at the barrel of a gun. Damn it! Where does everyone keep on getting those?

We were momentarily frozen, before a mad cackle made us look up.

"Well, well, well," said the gruff voice of Volcanus, "What do we have here?"

I put my hand on Devon's and pushed the door all the way open.

"Volcanus, long time, no see," I said, like I was welcoming an old friend. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Devon cast me a look that said: _What the heck are you doing?_

"Levin's daughter," the hideous freak said, a smirk on his mouth. His robot minions were behind him, chattering excitedly.

"Yeah," I agreed. Saying who I was. How original. "Don't you owe my dad some money?"

"Ha!" he scoffed, "I don't see how that's any of your business!"

"Well, it kinda is," I said, leaning against the frame of the door, "That cash's where my allowance is coming from."

"I didn't come here to talk money with a 16-year-old," the alien/robot thing announced, "I came here for-"

"Yeah, yeah, I know," I snapped, "My sister. She's right in the living room. No need to point a gun at my head."

"Excellent," Volcanus said. If he weren't holding the gun, I knew he'd be rubbing his hands together like some villain in an old monster movie. "And here I thought you were as stupid as your moronic father."

I had to stop myself from clenching my fists and punching the freak in the mouth. That struck a nerve. Unless you want a death sentence, you don't insult my family.

"Well, then I'll go get her," he said and lowered his gun, trying to push past us.

"I don't think that's such a good idea," said Devon in a voice as icy as Mom's had been in the living room just a few minutes ago, sticking a hand out across the doorway to stop him.

"Yeah," I agreed, not wanting my brother, who had absolutely no idea how to lie, to ruin this, "We just finished redecorating, and, no offense, you'd mess up the house pretty bad. Dev'll go get her."

"I will?" he asked incredulously, turning to stare at me like I was a two-headed lion at the zoo.

"Yeah, you will," I said, through gritted teeth and a false smile on my mouth.

"And then you're gonna send your baby sister off to the Plumbers' Academy on the moon so that we won't get her," Volcanus said, rolling his eyes.

"The moon?" I repeated, putting a fake mask of surprise on my face, "That's stupid. If we wanted to take her someplace safe, we'd take her to Mars."

"Well, either way," the pathetic excuse for a tech dealer said suspiciously, "I don't trust Levin as far as I could throw him. And that goes for you two as well."

"Considering how strong you are," Devon the Nerd pointed out, "Isn't that pretty far?"

"That's not the point," Volcanus said, shaking his massive, orange, rock-like head, "It's an expression. Jeez, don't you two read? You're Gwen Tennyson's kids for crying out loud!"

"Not nearly as much as we watch TV," I told him, a smug look on my face.

"Well, anyway," Rock-Head muttered, obviously getting annoyed and confused by us, "I'm sending one of my robots in there with you!"

One of the tiny things detached itself from the heard gathered behind him and stepped forward. It tugged on the leg of Devon's jeans. My red-haired brother looked up at me with worried eyes and I nodded to let him know it was okay. I'd distract the monster while he and the rest of the family got away. Easy as pie. Well, it would be of I knew how to make a pie.

Devon sighed and turned to head back into the house.

Devon POV:

My sister is crazy. I've had my suspicions for a long time, but now they are confirmed: Jane is crazy. Is she honestly gonna give Caity away to Volcanus? Of course not! She's not stupid! But then what? How could she let that giant thing dressed in a robot suit send this tiny little thing that actually is a robot with me, anyway? She knows they creep me out beyond belief!

I burst in through the door to find everyone exactly as they had been before we left.

"So, who was it?" Max prompted, his emerald-green eyes wide as he made circle motions with his hands, motioning for me to tell them everything.

"Volcanus," I said, pointing to the tiny red robot-like thing at my feet, "Jane said we were gonna give up Caity."

"What?" he cried, "Is she crazy?"

"I'm starting to think so, yes," I told him.

"So, what do we do?" Vera asked, stepping forward.

"You're all idiots," Dad snapped. I turned to see his arms crossed on his chest, his dark eyes narrowed as he frowned at us, "But first things first." And with that his fist morphed two times its original size and crushed the little robot at my feet. Dad's armor slowly started disappearing and before long, he stood in front of us completely human.

"What Kevin means, is that your sister isn't gonna give anyone up," Mom explained, stroking a worried Caity's hair and trying to ignore what the love of her life had just done. I could see the fear in my baby sister's eyes, and it made my heart break. No one should go through this kind of stuff, let alone a five-year-old with no idea how to control her powers. Then again, our family wasn't exactly normal, so this kind of thing tends to happen every once in a while to someone. But it's still not fair.

"Yeah," Uncle Ben agreed, bringing me out of my thoughts, "She's just gonna distract him until we find a way to get out of here."

"And how are we supposed to do that?" I asked, "Dad keeps all his space ships, jets, cars, anything that moves, really, under total and complete lockdown."

"Yeah, you have to be a genius to figure out how to even get in the garage," my cousin agreed, nodding his head feverishly.

"So, unless one of you knows how to get through a state of the art security system," Vera added, "the only way we can get out of here is on foot."

"We might not be geniuses," said Uncle Ben, a sly look in his eye. It was a look that I often saw on Jane's face when she thought of a 'brilliant' way to sneak past our parents to meet her boyfriend, Jasper Daniels, who Dad can't stand, by the way, or how to pass an exam that she hadn't studied for. "But we do have an ex-con who knows pretty much everything there is to know about alien tech."

"Who?" Max asked, his eyes widening as he surveyed the room, as if though he thought the ex-con would be hiding behind the couch or in the fireplace.

"Do you kids know anything about us?" his father laughed, "It's Kevin!"

"Wait," I said, holding up my hands to illustrate the words and turning to face my dad, "You're an ex-con?"

"Yeah," he said, a small smile tugging at the corners of his lips, "Tennyson put me in the Null Void when I was 11, then I got out, joined him, started going out with his cousin, and about a year later, he tried to kill me."

"Hey, you're the one who absorbed the Ultimaterix!" his so-called best friend cried.

"And why was that?" Mom asked, setting Caity down on the couch so that she could step between the two teens and jab an accusing finger at her cousin's chest.

He looked less defiant now.

"Because I couldn't stop Aggregor," he said begrudgingly.

"And?" she prompted.

"And I was an idiot for not listening to you," the brunette teen continued, averting his eyes and scratching the back of his neck.

"And?" Mom continued.

"And I'm sorry I tried to kill your boyfriend," he finished. She glowered at him a moment longer until Dad wrapped an arm around her thin waist and pulled her back into his embrace.

"That's enough, Gwen," he whispered, brushing his lips lightly against the top of her head, "You've made your point."

"If you two are done being gross," said Max, rolling his eyes at my parents, "we still need you to hack Devon and Jane's dad's security system."

"No sweat," the osmosian stated, letting go of his future wife, "Where is it?"

I walked over to the wall with nothing but the TV and family pictures on it and took down the TV to reveal something that vaguely resembled a laundry chute. I was glad for the super-natural strength I'd inherited from Dad. Without it that thing would have been really heavy. There was a combination lock put on the door that covered the chute's entrance.

"Whoa," Uncle Ben breathed, "Is your dad paranoid, or something?"

"Or something," I said, a small smile on my mouth before turning back to Dad, "Can you hack it?"

"That thing doesn't even need hacking," he scoffed and rolled his eyes before stepping forward. He gathered the lock in one large hand and absorbed the metal. It was crushed by just the slightest pressure of his fingers. Dad smirked and pulled open the door.

"You're a very, very dangerous and scary person," Vera told him before jumping into the chute, feet-first. You could hear her muffled cry as she slipped down to the garage. Dad rolled his eyes, and I just barely heard him murmur, "What else is new?"

"Can I move here?" Max asked in awe as he climbed into the chute and slid down just as easily before I could snap back, "No chance in hell."

"Me next!" Uncle Ben cried, sounding like one of his crazed fan girls. Mom and Dad both exchanged helpless looks. They were clearly humiliated by him. He ran to the chute, jumped in and slid down, yelling: "Wahoo!" the whole way down.

Mom walked over to the couch to take Caity.

"Is it gonna be dark in there?" my little five-year-old sister asked, peering up at me with those adorable brown eyes as our teenage mother put her inside.

"Only for a little while," I promised, brushing her long red hair out of her eyes with my large in comparison hand as she held on to the top edge of the shoot to stop herself from falling down.

"Where's Janie?" she asked, still not letting go.

"She'll meet us outside," I said, smiling at her briefly, "Now, go on. The longer you take to get down, the longer it'll be before you see Janie." She smiled back and let go. I heard her squealing in delight before she arrived down at the garage.

Mom was next. Dad helped her in and she sighed.

"This isn't gonna ruin my hair, is it?" she asked, frowning at me.

"Chill, babe, you're gorgeous no matter what," Dad stated, giving her a seemingly light push.

"AAAAHHH!" she screamed as she slid down, "Kevin! You are so dead!" her voice echoed up to us. Dad rolled his eyes and climbed in after her.

"Just so we're clear," he said, glaring at me, "I don't like you."

"Good to know," I said, not bothering to point out that he was my father, and that was one of the worst things a man could say to his son.

He shrugged in response and let go of the edge, sliding down to what would be his favorite place in the house, aside from his and Mom's bedroom, of course, in the future.

I slid down last, landing on the mattress Dad had set down below the chute just in case anyone ever decided to use it. When he had first built it, Mom had said it was a stupid idea, and that it would never come in handy. She couldn't be more wrong. When he was teaching Jane how to drive, this was the part she had most looked forward to. In fact, the only reason she actually learned was so that she could slide down the cool slide before and after the lessons.

"Whoa," I heard Dad say as I slowly stood up. We were standing in front of a door as thick as a bank vault's with a number pad on it. The only way out of the enclosed space was through that door.

"If I had an encryption pad this would be easier," he muttered as he walked over to the door and punched in four numbers. It opened immediately.

"How did you-?" Vera started to ask. She was staring at him in surprise. We all were. Either he was really good, or had x-ray vision. Knowing my dad, it could be both.

"Standard Plumber's code,' he said with a shrug, "Works on any locked door in any Plumber's house. It doesn't disable any of the booby-traps, though, so be careful."

"So what's the code?" Max asked excitedly, apparently choosing not to hear any of what had just been said after that.

"I don't think so, kid," the osmosian smirked and stepped through the door. We all exchanged looks and followed suit-

-and were immediately greeted by one of Mom's giant rock pets.

"What the heck?" Uncle Ben cried as he lifted his Ultimaterix to go hero. The thing was three times as large as any other one of the ones that she'd ever created, and twice as violent. It had obviously been told to hurt anyone who came in here. It grunted at us and swung his fist at Dad, causing him to duck, and the hit to land on Max, forcing him into the far wall and making him slide down. My cousin groaned as he looked up to see what would happen next. He had evidently forgotten that he had superpowers, too.

"Gloop!" the teenage version of my uncle cried, changing into the strange, jelly-like alien, "Not exactly what I was going for, but you get the idea." With that the monster slammed its huge fist into Gloop and splattered him all over the metal wall. Thankfully, the anti-gravity projector got him off quickly.

"Run!" he cried, "I'll hold him off!"

"You heard the man!" Dad yelled and started sprinting past the monster and down the hallway. It was so strange that we'd never come into contact with this creature when Dad took me and Jane down here. Maybe it was a new addition.

Caity didn't listen. She instead ran over to the rock-monster. She was so tiny that it would have been beyond simple to miss her, if it weren't for her flame-red hair.

"Caity!" I yelled, running after her. It was too late. Her eyes were glowing pink and she was using her powers. Damn it! If Mom and Dad ever found out about this, I was so dead!

The thing turned back to look at her in curiosity. It stopped hitting Gloop, and, like an obedient child sat down in front of her, bowing its large, grey head. Caity smiled and patted it. The thing rumbled under her touch and she smiled at it happily.

"Wow," said Mom, crossing her arms on her chest in admiration, "And I can hardly create those things."

I smirked rolled my eyes. "Come on, Caity, leave the rock so that we can get out of here."

"His name's Rocky," Caity snapped as he stood up and lifted her so that she could sit stubbornly on his shoulder, "and he's coming with us."

"Look, Caity, we're glad you made a new friend, but we don't have time for this!" Max snapped, getting up.

"Actually, if he's been down here for as long as your dad has had this garage, there's a chance he could help us," Mom argued. Rocky seemed to smile as he realized she was his creator and grabbed her in his large, stone hand.

"Ah!" she squealed as he lifted her on his other shoulder.

"Gwen!" Dad cried, looking back at her. Caity laughed as she looked past her new friend's head and at our mother.

"He likes you," she stated.

"Okay, so if we're done with Rock-face over here," said Uncle Ben, pointing at Rocky, "can we get on with everything?"

"Sure," I agreed. Caity glared at our uncle and grumbled, "Rocky." I sighed and led the way down the hall. Fortunately, this was the only booby-trap Dad had set, at least in this hallway, so the rest of the way passed without incident. When we got to the other side, Dad punched in the numbers again and the door swung open.

This time, we were greeted by a giant killer robot. Oh, how fun.

"You have got to be kidding!" Vera cried. It looked like an all-robot version of Volcanus, only twice his size. Behind him I could see all of Dad's vehicles. Unfortunately, they were all shielded by a wall of red laser beams. Only in this case, it was just one huge laser beam reflected off the surfaces of four mirrors to create four giant, red walls.

"Who the heck is your dad?" Uncle Ben snapped as the robot slammed its fists into the floor, making all of us dive in different directions, "Kevin?"

"Get to the jet!" Dad instructed, ignoring his friend's remark and pointing to the only vehicle that wasn't shielded by the walls. It was the jet that he and Mom had returned from their mission in. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Rocky set down Mom and Caity on the other side of the room, before running to the robot and start a wrestling match a few feet away.

"No! Rocky!" my baby sister yelled as she and Mom stood up. Mom grabbed her around the waist to keep her from running toward the huge rock.

"It's okay, sweetie," she soothed as her creation turned toward them and grunted one last time as if though to say goodbye, "He's gonna be alright."

"Let's go!" Max cried, helping Mom up and half-dragging her to the jet, Caity still crying hysterically in her arms. Dad had already opened the door and Uncle Ben was standing by the entrance, motioning for us to get in quicker. I saw Vera trapped underneath a fallen toolbox a few feet away from me and ran over to help her up.

"What is this place?" she breathed as we both pushed. Why did he have so much stuff in there anyway?

"Welcome to my father's domain," I muttered and finally succeeded in pushing the toolbox away.

"Thanks," she panted and got up. We both ran as fast as we could to the already parting jet and jumped in just in time. The robot had shattered Rocky to pieces and was coming after the jet. I sighed in relief. We were safe. I could only hope that Jane was, too.

Jane POV:

Where the heck was that damn ship? I'd been waiting here for five minutes already! Thank God they didn't send someone smarter to get Caity. Volcanus was a total idiot. No wonder Dad could literally beat him at anything with one hand tied behind his back!

"Why did you give her up?" Rock-Head suddenly demanded, "She's your sister after all. Isn't family everything to you Levins?"

"I gave her up cuz I want this nightmare to be over faster," I told him after a few seconds of silence as if though I'd been thinking it over., averting my eyes as if though in shame. I was a natural-born actress. Anyone who met me agreed with that. Mom had wanted to make me go to acting school, but I told her no chance in hell. I'm gonna be a Plumber like her, Dad, and everyone else in the family, not some girl up on stage with make up smeared all over her face. That's not me.

"I don't know why everyone says you're like your father," he said, rolling his large, beady eyes, "You're nothing like either of them."

"Really?" I smirked, lifting my eyes to smirk at him, "I could drive a space ship at the age of five."

"Ok, maybe you're a little like Levin," he allowed, shrugging slightly. My smirk widened.

"You know, you should probably kill me now," I told him, nudging my chin at the weapon in his arms.

"You're right, I should," Volcanus agreed, studying the gun, "It's a calimore ray gun. Know how much it's worth?"

"Yeah," I told him, "My dad has the same one."

"Huh," he said, still not taking his eyes off it.

"So why don't you?" I asked him after a few more moments of silence.

"Why don't I what?" he asked, frowning as he looked up from the gun and down to me.

"Kill me," I said, rolling my eyes at his stupidity. Is it just me, or do villains get stupider as they grow older?

"You want me to?" he asked, his eyes widening.

"'Course not," I scoffed, stepping forward, "But wouldn't you get, like, a ton of street cred for getting rid of the daughter of two of the most powerful Plumbers in history?"

"Yeah, I would," he agreed, seeming to consider my words, "But if your dad ever did break free from Balidores he'd come after me, and I don't need that on top of all my other problems."

"Problems like what?" I asked, seemingly interested and pretending not to notice his slip up.

"Like the fact that I'm always over-heating in this dumb suit," he whined, "And like that I have to track down more taytonite if I want to pay rent, and find more tech to sell to take care of these little guys." He looked back at them almost affectionately. It was kinda creepy.

"Wow, that's tough," I said, my eyes widening. I was starting to regret doing this. What was that aching feeling I was getting in my chest? It felt sort of like my heart was breaking, only not so strong.

_Sympathy_, some tiny voice inside me whispered. I almost groaned. I hate it when I start feeling like a damn goody-goody. All these emotions like sympathy, empathy, guilt, wanting to make everyone happy…Ugh. I was turning into Mom.

"It is," he agreed and slumped down in front of me, tears leaking out of his eyes, "And about the money? You're right! I do owe your dad! I promise I'll pay him back as soon as I have it!"

At that moment we both heard the sound of a metal door opening and turned to the garage behind our house. The door was opening and Dad's jet was slowly making its way out of there.

"Hey!" Volcanus yelled, "You tricked me!"

"Got that right!" I agreed, almost laughing with relief that I wouldn't have to put up with this damn cry-baby anymore, and started running up a set of pink stairs that had magically appeared in front of me, "See you never, freakshow!"

He fired several shots at my head but never got even close. The jet, however, was getting further and further away. It seemed to be slowing down, but I still couldn't catch up to it. The hatch at the bottom of the jet opened and a long rope ladder fell from it. I grabbed on and the last step of the stairs disappeared from under my feet. I turned back to see Volcanus angrily waving a fist at me, apparently realizing shooting was now pointless. Huh. So maybe he wasn't that much of a worthless moron as I thought he was. With a relieved sigh I turned back to the heavy task of climbing the ladder without falling off and hurtling back to the ground at 100mph. When I made it to the open doorway, I pulled myself in and lay down on the floor, face-down, as the hatch closed behind me, panting like I'd just fought with both Amy and Mike and they had almost beaten me. Yeah, like that's ever gonna happen.

"Never…make me…do that…again," I managed to get out, propping myself up on my arms and glaring at everyone. Devon laughed as he leaned down to help me up.

"Are you alright?" Mom asked, frowning as she studied me.

"Fine," I huffed.

"Ow!" Devon cried from beside me. We all turned to see that Dad had hit him on the arm. "What was that for?"

"For being an idiot and leaving your sister to deal with Volcanus," he snapped, "Who knows what those things could have done to her?"

A smile spread across my face. Either this was a dream, or I was actually seeing my perfect brother getting yelled at by Dad. Who cares? Point is that it's awesome!

"Kevin, stop yelling at him!" Mom snapped, grabbing his arm.

"Come on, Gwen," he said, his eyes narrowing, "If Ben did that to you, wouldn't you be mad?"

"Yes," she agreed, shifting her weight onto one foot and crossing her arms on her chest, "But I know you'd beat him up afterwards."

"Hey!" Uncle Ben huffed, "I'm still here, you know."

"Yes, Ben, we know," she said in a tired voice, "Now, come on, we still need to discuss some things and fly this ship. It can't exactly stay on autopilot forever." With that she grabbed both of them by their arms and literally dragged them to the front of the jet.

As soon as they were gone I burst out laughing. Devon glared at me.

"You're enjoying this, aren't you?" he asked, crossing his arms, too.

"Hell, yeah!" I cried.

"I have to agree with your dad," Vera murmured, "I can't believe you just left her like that!"

"Oh, calm down, Vera," said Max, "He already gave the lecture."

"That wasn't The Lecture," my annoying brother stated, with an annoying flick of his wrist. It made him look like some total air head or something.

"Yeah, it was," I disagreed, "He's spent years perfecting it. That was the original." Devon rolled his eyes at my joke before turning to more pressing matters. In his opinion anyway.

"So, did Volcanus mention anything worth while?" he asked, his forehead creasing slightly.

"Yeah," I said, suddenly recalling a detail that seemed very interesting indeed, "He said that Dad's at Balidores."

There was silence for a moment as that sunk in. Balidores was the Forbidden City. Well, technically it was more of a large castle perfect for a villains' hide out. No one was really sure why it wasn't knocked down, but, as long as the rent was paid, there was nothing the government, or Uncle Ben, could do about it, and because it was owned by Michael Darkstar, the rent was always paid. The guy was rich, for crying out loud!

"You think that's where everyone else is, too?" Vera asked in a small voice. She was terrified, that much was for sure. Not that I could blame her. Entering Balidores was like eating the last Popsicle before dinner time. Almost impossible, especially if your mom was cooking dinner in the kitchen where the Popsicle was, no doubt, and very likely to get you in a ton of trouble.

"Could be," Devon told her, exchanging a look with me and Max, "We should go check it out, just in case."

"We can't go in this ship though," Max announced.

"What are you talking about?" I asked, frowning at him.

"The villains all know your dad's ships," he told me, "We need to get either another ship, or disguise this one."

"Where are we gonna get another ship?" Vera snapped, crossing her arms on her chest.

A smile slowly spread itself across my brother's mouth.

"Jane, aren't you dating a tech-manipulating 17-year-old that our father doesn't despise yet?" he said, that annoying smile never wavering. A slow smile spread across my face as well, and before I, or anyone else, knew what was happening, I'd thrown my arms around my brother, thanking God that he was a total genius.

"You are a genius," I told him, letting him go and stepping back. The guy he was talking about was Jasper Daniels, Cooper Daniels' son. He and I had been together for nearly two years, although, as far as Mom and Dad were concerned, we'd started dating only a few weeks ago. Our Dads might work for the same organization, but that didn't mean they had to like each other. In fact, they hated each other, and have ever since before Mom and Dad got married.

No one's really sure who Jasper's mother is. Cooper's barely able to do his job, he's in his forties and single, and most of the time doesn't even notice Jazz. It's a miracle he even shows up, no, even _goes_ to school. I've been trying to help him out as much as I can, but when your cousin's an idiot, you're failing most of the classes that don't involve physical combat, and you have to fight aliens on a daily basis, it's pretty hard to find time to help your Emo (as Max puts it) boyfriend pass school.

Back in the real world, Dev and our two cousins were totally caught off-guard at what I'd just done, but he recovered faster than I would've given him credit for.

"That's what everyone says," Devon chuckled, "Now, come on, let's go tell our pilots that we need to make a little stop before going to the moon."

"Speaking of the moon," said Vera hesitantly, "where's Caity?"

Dev and I exchanged looks. Suddenly, a bright pink light flashed somewhere by the cockpit.

"Oh no," I whispered.

A/N: Hope you liked this chapter! R&R!


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: So, I know I've been updating all my stories, but particularly this one, excruciatingly slow, but I have a good reason for it! I'm moving…a lot, and I've been preoccupied with that. Not to mention traveling around the country to say good-bye to all my relatives. And I have a _lot_ of relatives. Also, and I know that I've mentioned this before, this story just isn't that easy to write. But, anyway, thanks for everyone's support and reviews, especially Rose Aerin. Thank you for all your ideas! You're amazing and I luv ya for it. =)

Credit goes to Rose.y and samcheese1 for their ideas. Thanks a lot for your support, guys! =)

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Gwen's POV:

I had to literally drag Ben and Kevin to the front of the jet, where we could talk without being overheard by the other teens. Kevin immediately sat down in the pilot's seat and disabled the autopilot.

"So, now we head to the moon," said Ben conversationally.

"Yes," I confirmed, crossing my arms on my chest, "But I still don't think this is such a good idea."

"Come on, Gwen," said Kevin, not taking his eyes off the darkened clouds in front of us. The sun had already set and it was now twilight. A brief image flashed in front of my eyes of Edward Cullen sparkling in the sunlight. I shook my head to clear it of the ridiculous thought. "Where else are we gonna take her?"

"That's my point!" I cried, plopping down into the seat next to him, "We shouldn't be taking her anywhere! If she's the one the villains are after, then she'd be safer with us!"

"But that's what the bad guys will have figured out, too!" Ben snapped, falling down into the seat behind me and resting his arms on my headrest, "They never would expect us to leave her somewhere. That way, they'll all be chasing us while Caity will be safe and sound with a bunch of armed guards ready to protect her at a moment's notice. Doesn't that sound better than putting her life in danger?"

I turned around and glared daggers at my nuisance of a cousin. I hated it when he was right, and he knew it. He immediately shrank back in his seat like a terrified little woodland creature, letting go of the headrest in the process. I turned back around and smiled in satisfaction. If I had to be wrong, then he would have to suffer. He was right to be scared.

"He's right," Kevin stated, "She'll be safe there."

I sighed, threw my head back and closed my eyes. Coming from Ben it sounded smug and stupid, but coming from Kevin, it actually sounded reasonable. I turned back in his direction to see his smoldering obsidian eyes locked on me. There was concern there, and none of the earlier sarcasm or fight he had put up when accusing Devon. I smiled a sad smile at him. Oh, what I wouldn't give to be able to get inside his head…

"I guess so," I breathed. A small smile tugged at the corners of my boyfriend's lips.

"Oh, come on!" Ben cried from behind us, apparently having gotten over his fear of, well, let's face it, me, "I just said the same thing two seconds ago!"

Kevin and I exchanged amused looks. It was a wonder how the most powerful weapon in the universe had come to be in the hands of a soccer-playing teen who was seemingly next to incompetent. I had to remind myself how resourceful Ben could be when the situation called for it.

Suddenly, I felt a searing pain in the back of my head. Someone was yelling. It sounded so tortured and miserable, and all I wanted was to make the noise stop. It was only when Kevin pulled me into his arms, murmuring for me to calm down, and yelling at someone what the hell they were doing to me, that I realized that I was the one who was screaming. I stopped, but the pain was still there. I gritted my teeth and grabbed for something to support myself with as I got up, trying to find what was doing this to me. I could feel the anguish and pain coming from somewhere in the jet, but where? Who, or what, could be hurting so bad that it was affecting me, too? I opened my eyes to find a black pair, two green pairs, and one brown pair of eyes staring back at me. I ignored the concerned faces and Kevin's soft, alluring voice telling me to stay down and rest, and set about, looking for the source of the pain. I finally saw Jane and Devon, or so I assumed that's who they were, kneeling around a ball of pink energy. That was the source. I got up, grasping whateverI could to keep from losing my balance, and made my way over to them.

"What's… happening?" I managed to ask, grabbing the hem of Jane's shirt to keep from falling.

"Caity's having a power attack," Jane said in a worried voice as she and her brother tried to calm the 5-year-old down. It was a tone I'd heard many times from Aunt Sandra when I had gone over to Ben's house and he and Kevin were doing something stupid. Only this time it wasn't motherly concern for her son's well-being, but a sibling's concern for her baby sister's sanity.

"You don't look so good, Mom," Devon told me, wrapping an arm that felt so comforting it was easy to imagine it was Kevin's, around my waist and supporting most of my weight. I must have imagined the last part of his statement in my pain-induced hysteria, though. "Maybe you should go lie down."

"I'm fine," I lied and knelt down beside them and looked at Caity. She was screaming her head off, just like I'd been, but I hardly noticed it. Her eyes were shining pink with manna, and so was the rest of her small body. It was literally glowing, and rays of energy seemed to be emanating from her on every side. "I can help her," I promised, grabbing hold of the little girl's shoulders, and without waiting for a reply from either of her siblings, plunged into her mind. It usually took me a minute to concentrate before I could get into other people's minds, but getting into Caity's took little to no effort.

I had no time to wonder about this, though. When I entered Caity's mind, all the pain had surpassed, leaving me with a clear head so that I could look around. At first I thought I was back at Legerdomain. I was standing on a large, stone platform and all around me I could see pink. Nothing else, though. Just a pink sky that seemed to go on forever. I only had time to see this before an energy blast knocked me back off my feet.

"Ugh," I groaned as I fell down on my back and slowly inched up on my elbows. Everything blurred for a moment and then came back into focus. I was staring into the hurt brown eyes of a furious young red haired girl. She looked like Caity only older. Maybe fifteen years old.

"Who are you?" she snapped, glaring at me. I blinked again and nearly gasped. The girl in front of me had Caity's face, but that was it. The right side of her body was that of an anodite, but the left looked like an osmosian's. It was frightening.

"Caity," I breathed, stretching out a hand in her direction. She recoiled immediately, like she was afraid I'd hurt her. "I'm not here to hurt you, I'm here to help."

"Of course you're not here to hurt me," she scoffed, getting up and taking a step back. I noticed then that her osmosian half was clad in half a blue and black jumpsuit. "Nothing _can_ hurt me! Look at me! I'm a monster." She slumped back down on the ground, facing away from me. I crawled over to her and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"You're not a monster," I told her gently. This was reminding me more and more of a conversation I'd had with Kevin several hundred times over the past year or so.

Caity completely ignored me.

"I can do anything, absorb anything, and yet, I can't find them!" She was crying now, her knees pulled up to her chest.

"You can't find who?" I asked, stroking her back, "Your family?"

"Yes!" she finally cried, turning around to look at me desperately, "I have to find them. They're in danger. They need me!"

"What are they in danger from?" I asked in a perplexed tone of voice. Something was wrong with this girl and I wanted, no, _needed_ to help her. It would go against everything I believed in not to.

"I-I-I don't know!" she sobbed, burying her face into my shirt. I wrapped both arms around her comfortingly. "All I know is that I have to protect them."

"Do you remember anything?" I asked, gently lifting her head away from my chest, trying to fill my eyes with as much compassion as I could muster up, "Do you remember what happened before you…came here?"

"I've always been here," she interjected, frowning at me in confusion, "Ever since I found out about my…_talent_." Her voice dripped with venom at the last word and she averted her eyes from mine. I cold tell she hated herself right now, more than anything. I was used to having to deal with Kevin when he got all upset about his powers and what he had almost done to me in the past. But he had good reason to be upset! I couldn't fathom why this innocent, little girl would have the same emotions as a man who had seen and done so many things to give him nightmares.

But with Kevin it was easy. I told him that it didn't matter to me, what he did, and when he tried to say something, I kissed the words away before they even left his mouth. Easy as pie.

"You look like her, you know," she whispered, bringing me out of my reverie and cuddling closer to me, like the small child that she was in real life.

"I look like who?" I asked, stroking her hair gently.

"Mom," she said, a little louder, "I remember Mom. She had red hair and green eyes, too. But she was…taller."

Suddenly, a loud crash was heard a few feet away.

"What was that?" I asked quietly, standing up, gathering manna in my hands, readying myself for a fight.

"It was one of them," she said, getting up as well, but staying down in a protective crouch, "One of the others."

"Others?" I repeated incredulously, "What others?" Is it just me, or did this girl have a very vivid, perplexing imagination?

"Those others," Caity said, pointing up at several blurry shapes descending down on us. I squinted to try to make them out, and staggered and gasped once one of them, the leader, apparently, got close enough to see. She was the spitting image of the girl standing next to me. The only difference was that this Caity was wearing a hateful expression on her face, and her eyes were glowing pink, like the 5-year-old's were right now, back in the physical world. All of these approaching beings were clones.

"What are they?" I asked, taking a step back. I didn't want to hurt Caity, or even a clone of her. It had been the same with Kevin when he had absorbed energy again and we were back at the Plumbers' Academy. Ben had thought that leading him there would be a good idea, too. And look how that turned out. I just couldn't hurt someone I cared about.

"They're what I have to protect my family from," the young girl growled, and lunged for the nearest clone. It ducked out of her reach, while another one threw an energy disc at her. She yelled out as it hit her osmosian half, and turned around sharply. There was an animalistic fire burning in her large, brown eyes as she threw energy blasts at the next nearest threat: the leader.

Slowly, I realized what was going on here. Caity was worried about her family, and her powers terrified her just as much as they did the rest of them. And, for some reason, some incidents had the power to trigger something in her that brought her back to her own mind, or, rather, the part of it that was scared. That was why she was throwing beams of manna around in the real world: she was just trying to protect her family from these creatures, which her mind had somehow conjured up. Even worse than that was the realization that the thing that Caity was really trying to protect them from was…herself. She thought she was a monster.

God, she was just like Kevin!

"Caity!" I cried as she started throwing more manna at the creatures. I heard an ear-shattering scream reverberate throughout the entire pink sky. It was obvious that it hadn't come from here, though. It had come from outside, the real world. She was hurting someone. Fear suddenly seized me. I stretched out a beam of manna and grabbed her around the waist, keeping her arms pinned to her sides.

"What are you doing?" she demanded, "They're the bad guys, not me! I thought you wanted to help!"

"I do," I promised, "But, Caity, this isn't real."

Another scream. I cringed away from the sound.

"Do you hear that?" I asked, pointing with my free hand at the sky, as if though the sound was a real, tangible thing, "That's happening outside, in the real world. You're hurting someone."

"No," she said, shaking her flame-red curls that reminded me so much of mine, "You're lying."

"No, I'm not," I stated as yet another clone tried to attack me. I twirled around and kicked her in the stomach, casing her to fall to the ground in pain. It wasn't a fatal blow. She'd heal. "You're in your father's jet with your siblings and cousins. You need to come back with me to the real world."

"No," she said again, shaking her head furiously.

"Yes," I argued, sending three clones staggering back a few paces with a blast of manna from my free hand, "This isn't real. It's inside your head. The sooner you realize that, the sooner you can see your family again."

Caity froze.

"I'll see them again?" she asked, her eyes widening.

"Yes," I promised.

Her eyes looked determined, face set in stone. It reminded me of Kevin when we had to save Ben when he did something stupid, like go after an entire fleet of aliens alone. Of course, he was also cursing my cousin for ruining another date, but that didn't seem to fit in here.

She closed her eyes and ducked her head. I thought I saw her murmuring something under her breath, but before I could really see, the world swam, and suddenly, I was sucked back into the real world.

I gasped for air when I opened my eyes to see a 5-year-old girl held tightly by her shoulders in my grasp. Her eyes were wide open in shock. It took me a minute to register that there was a small crowd of people gathered around us. Their features came back into focus, and I recognized Kevin standing in their midst. I sighed in relief and collapsed, letting Caity go. His strong arms caught me before I could hit the ground. I looked up into his eyes and smiled.

"Are you okay?" he asked, eyes full of concern.

"Yeah," I breathed, feeling myself slowly slipping closer to unconsciousness, "She's so much like you, Kevin…" And then everything went black.

Kevin POV:

"She's so much like you, Kevin…" Gwen whispered, before sinking into unconsciousness.

"Gwen?" I asked in alarm. Somewhere in the back of my mind I knew I shouldn't be so worried. If she fell asleep, that meant she'd get her strength back. The other, larger part of me, was worried more than Ma when I was gone for five or six years. "Gwen, get up."

The weight of Tennyson's hand was on my shoulder and I felt more than heard him try to calm me down.

"She's gonna be okay," he said, "She just needs some sleep."

I didn't answer. I'd heard this speech before, and I hated to admit it, but he had always ended up being right. Better not tell Gwen that when she wakes up.

"Kevin?" the obnoxious guy was shaking my shoulder now. I shrugged out from under it. "I said, she's gonna be okay."

I lifted my head to glare at the four other teens about a foot away, rejoicing over the miracle that was that little brat. If she wasn't, those kids were gonna have hell to pay.

"She better be," I hissed and got up, taking Gwen with me up to the front of the jet. Just before I turned around, I saw Jane look up and meet my eyes. There was a bright, relieved smile on her face, which then melted into an apologetic one. I gave her a shrug in return to show that everything was fine as long as Caity was okay. Fine, so maybe not all of them.

I set Gwen down next to me and strapped on her seatbelt, before sitting down myself and taking the wheel, disengaging the autopilot.

I heard Tennyson slide into the seat behind her and clenched the wheel. Was it really so impossible to leave me alone for more than two seconds?

"So, now we head to the moon?" he asked, lounging on the seat, feet propped up against the headrest.

"Yeah, Benji," I hissed through gritted teeth. I could barely keep myself from snapping the wheel in two. "Now we head to the moon."

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A/N: Sorry about it being so short. Oh well, hope you guys liked it! R&R!


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: Hey, guys! So sorry for not updating sooner! Virtual chocolate chip cookies to everyone who reviewed! Love you guys! Here's another chapter to hold you over until next time! Hope you like it! =)

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Jane POV:

I couldn't believe it. Caity was alright! For the first time in her life, she hadn't needed me and Dev to inject the medicine into her to come out of a power attack! I was so glad Dad had made me go back in time!

"Caity, are you alright?" Vera fussed.

"Are you hurt?" Devon inquired, looking her over for injuries. Such a doofus.

"That was so cool!" that was Max, of course. The others ignored him, but I rolled my eyes and hit him on the back of the head.

"Ow!" he cried and glared back at me angrily. I smirked. He had it coming, and he knew it.

"I'm alright," Caity said gently, "Where's Mommy?"

"Mommy's resting right now, honey," I told her, pushing past my annoying, overwhelming relatives and taking her into my arms, "What happened?"

"I don't know," my little sister admitted, shaking her head, "It felt just like that time when Devon accidentally hit me with that rock and knocked me out, or when your spell went wrong." Her wide, brown, innocent eyes looked around at all of us. I was immediately grateful that she was only five, and could therefore not make the connection.

Mom and Dad had been keeping these power attacks a secret from her for the past five years, and I saw no reason to disobey their wishes. Especially now, when it was very possible that we could all die. Every time they happened and Caity woke up in her hospital bed, there was some excuse. Sometimes Dev and I would get into a fight and accidentally hurt her, sometimes she would fall down the stairs, sometimes Dad would build a machine that was accidentally set on self-destruct and little Caity would have been standing just a little too close. It was always something else. The doctors there would occasionally joke about it, calling her a trouble-magnet. But one look from Dad always shut them up. I remembered one particular day, when one of those idiots went a little too far.

Devlin and I had just been excused from school to go see our baby sister who was, again, in the hospital. Mom and Dad were already there, standing by her bed. We got there just as she was waking up. The excuse this time was a precariously stacked bunch of very thick books that had fallen on her.

"Ugh," she groaned, opening her eyes slowly, "Mommy? Daddy?"

"We're right here, sweetie," Mom whispered, brushing some strands of hair out of her eyes.

"What happened?" she croaked, looking at us, one face to the next.

"You hit your head when some books fell," the doctor announced, coming over and smiling down at her comfortingly, "You ought to be more careful, Ms. Levin. I saw your record. Looks like you have quite a habit of hitting your head, young lady. Not at all good for a growing young girl."

This made us all freeze. I saw Mom and Dad exchange looks. No one had ever been that open, or so clearly suspicious, when it came to Caity's showing up at the hospital so much. They never questioned it, never said anything to our parents, let alone her. And why should they? Mom and Dad always paid for everything.

Dad gave a small, barely distinct nod to her, and then walked over to the man, who was about 40 years old, wore glasses, and was balding.

"Would you mind talking with me outside for a moment, doc?" he asked, putting an arm around his shoulders and guiding him to the door like they were old friends, "I have a question about my daughter's health."

"Certainly, sir," the doctor beamed, obviously delighted to be making the acquaintance of someone as famous as Kevin Levin. Yeah, fat chance, doc.

"What's dad gonna do?" I asked, looking up at Mom's frowning, green eyes. She smiled at me then, and put an arm around me.

"Nothing you need to worry about, honey," she assured me, and we both turned back to my little sister.

From that moment on, no one saw him at the hospital anymore.

That just goes to show that you don't mess with the Levin family.

"Jane?" Devon's voice brought me back to reality. I blinked and focused on him.

"Yeah?" I asked.

"I was just saying that Caity should go to bed now," he said in a way that I knew he was repeating himself.

"But I'm not tired," the little 5-year-old in my arms insisted, shaking her head stubbornly and turning to look at me with pleading eyes. I sighed.

"First of all, you know that trick only works on Daddy, not me," I reminded her. She pouted and crossed her small arms on her chest. "And, second, or big, bossy brother is right. You need some sleep."

Devon rolled his eyes and I stuck my tongue out at him.

"They're both right, Caity," Max told her, sighing and spreading out his arms to demonstrate his helplessness in the situation, "It's bed time, you little brat." He ruffled her hair.

She batted his hand away.

"I am not a brat," my little sister stated, glaring at him. Vera hit him on the back of the head.

"Ow!" he cried, glaring at her this time, "Seriously, the women in this family are way too violent."

"However true that might be," Devon said, his eyes narrowed in a suspicious way that only he and Mom could pull off to look threatening, "It doesn't change the fact that Caity still needs to get some sleep."

"Yeah, sweetie," Vera told her, gently smoothing out the mess of her hair that her idiot of a brother had made, "We'll wake you up for anything important."

"Alright," after a few moments of assessing all of our earnest, concerned faces, Caity agreed. She relaxed in my arms and was asleep in seconds.

Devon got up and started to head to the front of the jet, which a seething Dad was piloting.

"What are you doing?" Vera whisper-snapped, grabbing his wrist, a frown on her face.

"I'm going to tell Dad that we need to stop at Jasper's house," he said, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. I had to give him credit. This time, it was.

"He seems to hate you," my younger, over-achieving cousin announced. For once that harsh tone she used to scold someone, or tell the mentally disabled something vital, wasn't directed at me or Max. That was a first. "Plus the woman he loves just collapsed because of your sister. I really don't think that's such a good idea."

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but she's right," Max stated, "You might be the good kid in the family in the future, but not now. The guy hates you."

"Then what are we supposed to do?" Dev snapped, his green eyes crackling slightly, like emerald flames. If I was standing up, I would have taken a step back. It was a look I was used to getting from Dad, but not him. Max was right, Devon was the good one. The one who never got mad, or did anything wrong. He was the poster child. I was the one who threw tantrums, picked fights, got yelled at by our parents. I didn't like the role change.

"I'll tell him," Vera volunteered, already up. She passed him and started to walk to the cockpit. He stood there for a moment, before hurrying after her. Well, stubbornness ran in the family, no matter which side you were from.

I sighed and slowly got up, careful not to jostle my baby sister and wake her up. Suddenly, I felt Max's hand on my arm. I looked up at him questioningly.

"Can I talk to you for a moment, Jane?" he whispered.

"Sure," I replied, frowning at him, "I'll just put Caity to bed."

He nodded and followed me to the back of the jet, where Dad had installed bunk beds for such a special occasion as this one.

As soon as Caity's head was on the pillow, I turned back to Max, and we both walked a little ways away. His brow was furrowed in a way that I didn't like. It meant he was thinking. And when a Tennyson was thinking, well, you either find someplace to duck under, or you run as fast as you can. For once, I chose neither. Maybe Max had just enough of his mother in him to actually think something reasonable up, for once.

"I was thinking," he started.

"Never a good thing," I muttered, rolling my eyes. He glared at me for the fiftieth time tonight. "Sorry." I held up my hands in surrender and let him talk. My next mistake in an encounter with him today.

"Well, how did your mom know what to do?" he asked, leaning back against the wall.

I shrugged, not seeing the point.

"You saw her. It was like she was in pain. Probably anodite instincts, or something."

"Yeah, but think about it," Max pressed, his green eyes gleaming, "If your mother, even as a teenager, knew what to do to stop Caity's power attacks, why hasn't she done it now? I mean, she loves her, right? Isn't her own daughter's safety worth a little fainting spell?"

As he spoke, the true meaning of my usually dumb cousin's words sunk in. She knew. She had known all this time how to stop Caity from hurting, and she didn't do anything about it! My hand clenched into a fist. This wasn't just about Caity, though. Dad took his stress and anger out on me because of those attacks, and she didn't do anything to stop him. No, that wasn't true. She always told him to leave me alone, that it wasn't my fault. Was that because she felt guilty?

I shook my head to clear it. This was Mom we were talking about here! She always tried to help people, no matter who they were. I even heard a rumor once that she and Amy and Mike's mother Charmcaster had once been enemies, and that the witch had kissed Dad. Totally gross, by the way.

Dad… A fainting spell might not be that big a deal in her book, but it sure was in his. He loved her so much, he couldn't stand to see anything happen to her.

I took a deep breath. This was what I had to keep reminding myself. He loved her. That's why he treated me like that. Not bad, exactly, but not as good as he used to. He was worried about her. She was the world to him. I let out the breath, which I hadn't realized I'd been holding, and unclenched my fists. My eyes had closed as all this sank in, and I opened them now, to find Max's staring back at me with concern.

"What are you looking at?" I demanded, crossing my arms on my chest.

"Nothing," he answered, shaking his head, "Are you okay, though? You looked like you wanted to punch something."

"I did," I told him, one of the corners of my mouth pulling up involuntarily, "I still do."

"Well, I'm sure you'll find something to battle at Jasper's," he said. I smiled wider. Good old Max. He knew just how to cheer me up. "So, can we get back to what I was talking about?"

"As crazy as this might seem, you're right, Maxine," I told him, ignoring his question and getting right to the point, "If she knew how to stop the attacks, then she would have done it. Dad was keeping her from doing it."

"I don't think so," he disagreed, shaking his head, "If there was a way to help Caity, then wouldn't your mom have used it, no matter what your dad would have said?"

I frowned as I considered this. It was true. Mom loved us, and would do anything to keep us safe, even if it made Dad furious with her, which it most of the time would. But, then why hadn't she helped Caity? It couldn't be that my first assumption was right! She wouldn't do that! She was Gwen freaking Tennyson! It was her job – no, second nature – to help people! Especially her family! None of this made sense.

Luckily, though, good old Max was just too happy to give me his theory.

"Exactly," he stated, seeing the expression on my face, "So, I was thinking, maybe it's like chicken pox. Maybe she could only do it once. It's probably in the DNA." He looked so smug that I wanted to wipe that smirk off his face and sweep the floor with it.

"Alright, genius," I said sarcastically, crossing my arms on my chest and turning my head to direct my glare at him, "If you're so smart, then why didn't that happen to me? Why haven't I ever felt pain when I'm around Caity? Why couldn't I stop it?" My voice was rising in pitch as I yelled, getting so loud that I was sure everyone at the cockpit could hear me. I didn't care though. I had a good point. Why hadn't that happened when I was around Caity? These power attacks were yet another mystery. Another thing Dev could add to our little log of what our parents don't tell us about. We were already up to 2000 on that one, so why not 2001?

"Maybe because it already happened to you," Max said, a calmer expression that I hated just as much on his face, "Maybe you just don't remember."

"Maybe," I scoffed, turning away from him just in time to see Dad turning his head away from us and back to the sky. Devon and Vera were coming back.

"Jane?" Dev asked, seeing the frustrated look on my face, "Are you alright?"

"I'm good," I told him, waving it away carelessly, "What's with Dad? Is he taking us to Jasper?"

"Yes," Vera answered, "And I was right, by the way. Your dad does hate him right now."

"Good to know," I smirked. "Is Mom up yet?"

"No, not yet," Dev answered, shaking his head, "But she will be, soon enough."

"Let's hope so," I stated, already heading to the front of the jet, "I want to ask her what happened in Caity's head."

I think they tried to stop me, but, as usual, I didn't listen. I hurried over to Dad and sank into the seat behind him, arms crossed on the headrest.

"Hey," Uncle Ben greeted me with a slight smile, "What were you yelling about back there? You sounded like Kevin when one of the bad guys trashes his car."

"Hey, I'm just saying," Dad said in a way that made it clear they'd already had this conversation many, many times, "Out of all the cars in Bellwood, why does it always have to be mine?"

"Because you're the only one who has weapons in the trunk," his best friend offered.

He glowered at him.

"Speaking of weapons," I said, even though what I was about to say next had nothing to do with that, "What did Vera and Devon tell you about where we're going?"

"They said we were gonna go get Cooper's son, Jasper," Uncle Ben answered, "Why? Isn't that what Max told them to say?"

"What?" I asked, looking at him in surprise.

"Every team has a leader," he explained, an all too innocent smile on his face, "I just figured that, in this case, it would be the guy with the all-powerful weapon strapped onto his wrist."

I rolled my eyes.

"We're not a team," I told him, "We're just four people who happen to be related to each other for the sole reason that our parents just couldn't get enough of each other." I shuddered at the mental image that coursed through my brain.

Dad chuckled.

"Let me guess," he smirked, "Your cousin's the doofus, his sister's the geek, your brother's the know-it-all, and you're the one who just happens to get in trouble all the time."

"I'm just gonna go out on a limb here and say that you're psychic," I smirked. They both laughed.

"No, he was just comparing your team to ours," Uncle Ben explained.

"Oh," I said. Not exactly as exciting as having a psychic father, but still worth something. "Who's the geek and the know-it-all?"

"That would be Gwen," Dad smirked.

"Excuse me?" Mom cried, suddenly whirling around in her seat to glare at him. Iwas so shocked that I literally jumped in my seat.

"You were awake?" Uncle Ben cried.

"She woke up sometime around 'every team has a leader'," Dad told us before she had the chance to, "And, by the way, kid, whether you like it or not, you are a team."

"Not if the Plumbers have anything to say about it," I smirked.

"Ugh, can someone fill me in on what happened?" Mom asked, holding a hand to her forehead, "I don't remember anything that happened after I felt that searing pain in my head."

"So you mean you don't remember how you stopped Caity's power attack?" I blurted out without thinking. Damn. Another trait from my oh, so wonderful father.

"I stopped Caity's power attack?" she asked incredulously, her green eyes widening.

"Yeah," Uncle Ben told her, leaning forward in his seat, "And passed out for five, ten minutes after that. How do you feel?"

"I'm fine," she assured him, waving his concern away.

Dad looked away from the sky to fix his stern obsidian gaze on his wife– I mean, girlfriend.

"I'm fine," she told him, her eyes begging him not to be so worried.

I sighed and looked away. You could literally see the electric current passing through their eyes as their gazes held. It wasn't one of those impromptu make-out sessions I frequently come home to which mean we usually have to get a new couch every other Tuesday, but it was still such an intimate moment I felt… strange for staring.

That was why I saw it before any of the rest of them did. A large white-and-blue ship flying towards us at full speed, ready to fire as soon as it had a close enough target. The pilot was a madman. It was plain to see through the windows – not tinted, of course – that it was someone both I and the rest of my family recognized well. He was an old enemy of Dad's. Argit.

"Look out!" I screamed, leaning over the top of Dad's seat to grab the wheel and turn it sharply away, much like Mom had earlier today, narrowly avoiding the missile that was about to hit us.

"What the hell?" Dad cried, as we all swerved violently to the right.

"That was Argit," I said quickly, "He's working with them."

"Big deal," Uncle Ben scoffed, as Dad grabbed the wheel again and pried my hands off it, "We can take him."

"He's trying to kill us!" I snapped, glaring at him the way Dad glares at me after I've made some horrific mistake.

"Good enough for me," Dad stated, "Let's go!"

He sped up, causing us all to feel like we were getting sucked through a tube. I had no time to look back at Dev, Caity, and our obnoxious cousins. There was just too much pressure. Literally.

The missiles kept on flying, Dad kept on shooting back. I heard someone call my name, but that could have been my imagination.

"This is getting us nowhere!" Uncle Ben finally declared and unbuckled his seatbelt. "Slow down!" he yelled at Dad, who did as he said only after a moment's hesitation. Finally, the air was safe enough to breathe again.

"What…was that?" Devon gasped a he stumbled to the front of the jet, leaning against my chair for support.

"Dad dodging missiles that were being fired at us by Argit," I explained in an innocent voice, a smirk on my face. He glared at me.

"And now, this is me going out to fight Argit and get rid of that ship," Uncle Ben declared. We all turned to watch as he walked out to the hatch. It took Max only a moment to run after him.

"That is not gonna go well," Dad declared, pressing the button to open the hatch.

"Tell me about it," I muttered.

* * *

Max's POV:

I hurried after my dad as soon as I realized what he was about to do. It might have been stupid and reckless, but we're Tennysons! Stupid and reckless is what we do!

"Hey, wait!" I called, running past my sister, who was clutching Caity to her chest, her brown eyes wide in alarm and surprise at both what had just happened, and what was happening now.

He stopped by the very door of the hatch, waiting for me obediently. Wow. That was a first.

"I'm coming with you," I said, trying to make my voice full of authority and not like I was terrified to be doing this. Fighting Jane the Terminator is one thing. Fighting Argit the Insane is a whole other. They say he went mad after the first decade in jail, and then somehow broke out. No one's heard from him since. Well, until now.

"Of course," Dad said. My eyes practically bugged out of their sockets. Did he just say what I think he said?

"Did you just say yes?" I asked, just to make sure.

"Yeah," he confirmed, "It's your family they're after. Someone's gotta protect it."

I smiled at him, and he smiled back. Dad never used to let me out of his sight. This was more like it.

"Ready?" he asked and I nodded. "Good. We jump on three. One, two-"

"Did you just say jump?" I interrupted incredulously. He could not be serious. We weren't gonna stay in the safety of the jet just because we were gonna die from a 10,000 foot drop? Was this guy insane?

"…three!"

He grabbed my arm and I heard a high pitch, girlie scream. Probably Vera. No, it was just me.

"AAAHHHH!" I squealed, squirming as I fell.

"Hit the Omnitrix!" Dad yelled once my throat was hoarse, and hit his own Ultimaterix, changing into-

"Humngousaur!" he shouted, and then started flailing, "I wanted Jetraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay – oof!" A missile had hit him in the stomach, now causing him to fly around and around like that paper airplane Jane had given me for my tenth birthday and put a spell on. That actually turned out to be a pretty cool gift. Until she ripped it!

Right. Falling to my doom here.

I managed to turn my arm so that it was somewhat in front of me, and turned the dial of the Omnitrix, looking for Jetray, Echo Echo, something! Finally I got tired of searching and just hitthe first one I came into contact with.

"Big Chill!" I rasped out. Sure it wouldn't do any good to save Humungousaur, but he was tough. I had to worry about the ship.

Suddenly, a missile fired right at me. I went intangible and it flew away to who knows where. I became tangible again, and flew over to the ship, blowing ice breath onto the wings, trying to freeze them off. No luck. What was it that Uncle Kevin always said? To take down a machine, any machine, you have to do it from the inside. Theoretically, he had been talking about girls, and that had almost earned him a night on the couch from Aunt Gwen, but it fit right in this situation.

I became intangible again, and flew threw the ship walls, trying to find the main engine. When I finally fond the right room, and flew through that wall, I became tangible again and started freezing everything in sight. Wires, wheels, gears, anything. I didn't even notice him sneaking up on me until I heard the strange, almost human voice of Argit.

"Well, well, well, looks like I have a stowaway on my ship," he said in a voice that sounded more sane than people gave him credit for.

I slowly turned around and if I had been human, or any other species, I would have gasped. The man looked like a cross between a giant mutant rat and a porcupine. He was wearing a dirty white undershirt and black jeans that seemed to have the ends cut off. In his hands he was holding an axe, but even that wasn't the most frightening part. His eyes were a burning yellow, and filled with something that I can only describe as wild. There was an insane smile on his face, and foam seething from his mouth, as if though he had rabies. And, well, maybe he did.

He smiled wider at my reaction.

"And who are you?" he asked, stepping forward and swinging the axe. It missed me but lodged into a metal box that I was pretty sure was important.

"Are you the famous Ben Tennyson?"

Another swing.

"Come to give me regards from my old buddy Kevin?"

Another swing.

"Or are you his little son?" No swing. He stood there, foam dripping from his mouth, axe at his side. "You're him, aren't you? That little boy we've heard so much about. But no, you're not the one they want. So I'm free to do this!" He swung out again, and I went intangible again, getting a sudden inspiration.

His axe was sharp enough to hack through metal. If I kept him distracted long enough, he would destroy the room himself. Oh, how easy that would be!

"So, you're battling with an axe now," I laughed as I flitted from one corner of the room to the next, Argit and his axe just a few feet away, "What, the others don't trust you with alien tech?"

"Shut up, you little twerp!" he snapped, swinging at me again.

Suddenly, something crashed through the wall. It was the missile Humungousaur had been caught on. I barely had time to widen my eyes before the explosion hit.

Jane POV:

I watched from my place at the window as the fight took place. Well, actually I could only really watch the missile that kept floating around in figure eights with Humungousaur on top of it. But that was what worried me. There was only one idiot in the sky.

"Who do you think that is?" Dev's always calm voice asked from the seat Uncle Ben had vacated as the missile flew past the window again.

"I'm betting it's Max," I announced, sitting back in my chair, "No one can be a bigger moron than him."

"You obviously haven't met our moron," Mom laughed.

"She's right," Dad agreed, swerving out of the way of another missile, "That's Benji, alright."

"How do you figure?" I asked, clinging onto the seat for dear life as we started heading downwards.

"Uh oh," Dad gasped.

"What, uh oh?" Mom demanded, her frightened green eyes staring at him across the small space between them in shock.

"We're losing altitude!" he cried.

"In English!" I snapped.

"We're going down," Devon snapped back bracing himself against the seat in front of him.

We started spiraling downwards as Dad impatiently tried to slow us down.

"Jazz, I love you," I whispered.

Suddenly, Dad seemed to get back control of the jet, at least sort of, and we flew just about a foot from the ground, hitting it and skidding across the front lawn of some house and banging into a tree before becoming still again. Surprisingly, no one had even a scratch on them.

"Is…everyone…alright?" he gasped, turning back in his seat to look at us all.

"Yeah," I gasped, turning back to see Vera staggering forward, Caity clinging to her.

"Where are we?" Mom asked, looking through the window at the very limited part of the large house that wasn't completely obscured from view by tree branches.

I looked up, too, and a huge smile spread across my face. I recognized the small, old-fashioned, white, two-story structure well. There was a garage right next to it, although that part was covered by tree branches.

"We're here," I breathed, "We're at Jasper's house."

* * *

A/N: That's chapter 6! Hope you guys liked it! Please review!


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